Today Microsoft finally released the long awaited Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. SP1 is packed full of bug fixes, security updates and even a few new features so my recommendation is to get the update installed the next time you have an hour to run through the download and install.

Note: With all major upgrades, be sure to backup your system and possibly take a system image prior to updating your system. Although rare, I’ve had issues in the past with Service Pack upgrades.

Here’s a few notes from Microsoft on the new SP1 Release. To read about all the updates however, feel free to take a look at KB976932

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 helps keep your PCs and servers on the latest support level. It also provides ongoing improvements to the Windows Operating System (OS), by including previous updates delivered over Windows Update as well as continuing incremental updates to the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 platforms based on customer and partner feedback. This enables organizations to deploy a single set of updates.

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 will help you:

Keep your PCs supported and up-to-date

Get ongoing updates to the Windows 7 platform

Easily deploy cumulative updates at a single time

Meet your users’ demands for greater business mobility

Provide a comprehensive set of virtualization innovations

Provide an easier Service Pack deployment model for better IT efficiency

Remember to download the correct version. On the download page you will find both the Windows 7 64-bit (x64) download of 903MB and the 32-bit (x86) download of 537MB. If you don’t know if your version of Windows 7 is 32-bit or 64-bit, take a look at this short groovyPost which explains how-to find out if your running 32-bit or 64-bit.

Last night, about 20 hours ago, I got SP1 offered through Windows Update. And if im correct (now im not sure anymore) it was around 550 mb. But I got several updates. Some optional and some serious. So there is a big change i saw it al wrong.

Yeah, sometimes the Windows Update patches are smaller than the ones you download since the ones you download contain the updates for all languages etc… however the updates from WU only includes the one for your specific language.